


A Horrific Day

by Keener_girl



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 03:12:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19190764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keener_girl/pseuds/Keener_girl
Summary: Today was a terrible day.In fact, today was such a terrible day that Peter considered not going to the compound after school, the way he usually did. Maybe Tony would believe him if he said he wanted to fit in extra patrol time or wasn’t feeling well. However, that man could see through anyone, especially Peter. So he decided to go on ahead and allow Happy to drive him.Bad idea.





	A Horrific Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I just recently rewatched Spiderman: Homecoming, and I don't think Tony ever found out about how Peter got stuck under a building... so here is how I imagine it happening!

Today was a terrible day.

In fact, today was such a terrible day that Peter considered not going to the compound after school, the way he usually did. Maybe Tony would believe him if he said he wanted to fit in extra patrol time or wasn’t feeling well. However, that man could see through anyone, especially Peter. So he decided to go on ahead and allow Happy to drive him.

Bad idea.

His morning had started out with the sound of banging and yelling. His neighbors were in the process of getting a divorce, which was causing every other person in the apartment complex to suffer. Yelling, crying from their toddler, and banging would come from their room at the worst times possible. And, of course, the moment Peter had gotten home from his patrolling at 3 am (way past Tony’scurfew for him, something he would be getting a lecture for soon), they had decided to start arguing once again. Basically, Peter only got one or two hours of sleep.

On top of his restless night, he ended up dropping his lunch box on the way to school, resulting in his yogurt bursting and covering every inch of the food and lunch box itself in pink liquid. So he was hungry. Extremely hungry. And he hadn’t brought any lunch money to school with him that day.

Even worse, he had a minor sensory overload during two class periods. It wasn’t as bad as a full-blown sensory overload, but it did give him a terrible migraine and made his spidey-senses go whack. Ned had to literally help him to his classes, causing people to stare as Peter tripped and stumbled down the hallway.

And just to add a little more suffering to his already horrific day, Flash decided to be his usual self and slam him into a locker, only making his migraine worse. Peter had winced in pain and allowed Flash to quite literally pummel him. And now he had a bloody nose and two black eyes to resemble how he felt about his day.

Tony was going to have a fit.

What he hadn’t been expecting was Happy’s concern. He hadn’t been as grumpy and moody towards Peter as usual, and was actually gentle and kind towards him. He asked what happened, but Peter didn’t want to say anything. He was already going to have to figure out how to hide the fact that he was being bullied, was extremely sleep deprived, and was dealing with a migraine all at once from Tony. He didn’t want to deal with Happy leaking information to said billionaire.

“Hey, Pete,” Tony said without looking up when Peter entered the lab, stumbling a little. His migraine wasn’t as bad as it was earlier, but it still felt like a hammer was pounding against his skull. If he didn’t know any better, he would think there was a dent or hole in his head by now.

“Hi, Mr. Stark!” Peter said, trying to come off as energetic and happy, but wincing when his voice sounded fake and raspy.

Immediately noticing a problem, Tony spun around his chair, his eyes widening when he saw the state Peter was in. His face was bloody, covered in bruises, and just extremely messy. His hair wasn’t kept at all and looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His clothes didn’t even match and were extremely baggy on him, and Tony had a sneaking suspicion that the kid didn’t even know what he was wearing.

“Woah, Kid, what happened to you?” he asked, rushing over to Peter and dragging him to the couch that was in the middle of the room. Despite that sarcastic tilt in his voice, concern was etched across his face, and Peter couldn’t help but smile a little. It was nice to know he cared.

But instead of telling the truth, Peter spouted a not-so-believable-lie: “I fell.”

Tony gave him a sharp look. “I’m not an idiot. Who punched you?”

The billionaire’s voice, although Peter knew it was at a normal volume, sounded loud to him. His heart speed picked up as he realized a real sensory overload was starting. He covered his ears, closing his eyes and curling into a little ball. He had grown accustomed to comforting himself alone in his room at home. It only took about an hour for it go away, but it always felt like years to him.

Lights flashed in his closed eyes, a high pitched shriek, which he kept telling himself wasn’t real, screamed in his ears. Everything was too loud, too bright. He could hear a voice saying his name, panic laced in with the voice. But the voice was yelling. It was too loud. Way too loud.

Too loud, too loud, too loud, too loud, too loud, too loud…

And then he felt something, or someone, holding him tightly, and something combing through his hair. His senses went crazy, telling him he was in danger, that it was too small. He was being crushed, he couldn’t breathe. It was dark, too dark. He yelled for help, but no one was coming. He was alone. He was stuck, under a building, alone. He was going to die here. He was going to die and leave May all alone, and-

Suddenly, he could hear a voice speaking quietly and slowly. “Peter, listen to me. Listen to my breathing. I need you to copy it, okay? Can you do that for me?” There was a little shake to the voice, causing Peter to frown. But he chose to ignore it and listened to the voice’s breathing. It was slow and steady. And just as quickly as the panic attack/sensory-overload started, it slowly dissipated. He opened his eyes to see that the room was almost pitch black, minus the dim lights that kept a warm, golden glow. Tony Stark was holding him against his chest, taking over exaggerated breaths.

Now that Peter was looking at his mentor, he could see the fear in his eyes. Guilt clawed it’s way up Peter’s throat, and it came out as a quiet, “I’m sorry.”

Tony shook his head quickly, slowly rocking them back and forth on the couch, trying to make sure Peter stay calm. “It’s not your fault.”

It was silent for a couple of minutes, but the moment Peter was 100% calm and okay, Tony pulled away to look at him, a million questions and concerns flashing in his eyes. However, he only asked one question: “Are you okay?”

Peter hesitated before shrugging and saying, “I guess. It’s not the first sensory-overload I’ve ever had.”

“Sensory-overload?”

“It usually happens when I’m in crowded, bright, or loud places… but I guess my stress and sleep deprivation and migraine caused one…” he trailed off, too tired to care that he had just admitted that he’d been having a migraine, wasn’t getting enough sleep, and was stressed. What was the point of hiding it after what Tony had obviously seen?

Tony stared at him for a couple of minutes before sighing. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Peter only shrugged. Another minute of silence. “Are you claustrophobic?”

Tony didn’t miss the way the kid cringed at the question, which only caused him to frown. “Not… exactly…”

Peter sighed when Tony crossed his arms, his eyebrows raised. He really didn’t want to tell Tony about the building. He would probably blame himself, and then he would go crazy and add even more protocols to his suit to ensure that it never happened again. However, Tony wasn’t giving him a choice. He launched into a short explanation of what happened the night of Homecoming, which had been a little less than a year ago. Tony’s face visibly paled at what the boy, who was becoming more of a son than just some intern, was telling him.

“He dropped a f*cking building on you?!” he exclaimed, his hands shaking. He could have prevented that. He should have prevented it. “Why didn’t you call me?! You should have called someone for help!”

“Ned called Happy, but he didn’t listen,” Peter said before realizing that was the wrong thing to say. 

Tony looked like he was going to explode. The anger was quite literally radiating off of him, and Peter cringed when the billionaire stood up and began to pace. He hadn’t meant to cause this. And now Happy might be in trouble. “What do you mean he didn’t listen? His job was to look after you.” 

Oh, God. His voice was quiet now. Too calm. Way too calm.

“He was busy moving out of the tower. He didn’t know.”

“I’m going to have a very long talk with him,” Tony said quietly, but Peter’s enhanced hearing picked it up. The kid sighed, sinking back into the couch. Great. Another problem that he caused. Tony looked at him and seemed to realize that his panic and stress wasn’t helping at all.

After a moment of silence, which seemed to be happening a lot today, he sat down next to him. He pulled the kid closer to his side and said, “FRIDAY, Spiderling’s movie playlist.” The TV that had been added to the lab after Peter started coming over so often turned on, starting with one of Peter’s favorite Star Wars movies.

Peter looked up at Tony, surprised, earning a chuckle from him. “You deserve a break. Just relax.” He then directed his next words to FRIDAY, “Send someone down with some popcorn and soda.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Peter grinned and snuggled up against Tony, the way they would during the rare weekends he got to sleep over. Maybe today wasn’t so bad after all.

“Oh, and you’re grounded for being out past curfew last night.”

Peter groaned. He took everything back.


End file.
